Knife Experts : Found this one,....any clue ?

Why would anyone bury a butcher knife in the park in NJ?

Hidden murder weapon, perhaps?

The metal is so corroded I think the your only hope is to search the net for similarly shaped hilts. The wood looks like it may retain it's original contour.

Take a look at the rivets that hold the handle in place. Very old knives would have brass or copper rivets that were hand peened and there may be hammer marks on the ends of the rivets to indicate that.

Read it again...he say's 3 to 4 inches of soil. Found a pair of my channel locks a few years ago...as I slammed them thru the deck of my mower....they had been in the yard at least 6 or 7 years.a reply to: Naturallywired

originally posted by: butcherguy
Take a look at the rivets that hold the handle in place. Very old knives would have brass or copper rivets that were hand peened and there may be hammer marks on the ends of the rivets to indicate that.

Now that's a great clue. Gotta be a butcher....LOL

originally posted by: IAMTAT
Why would anyone bury a butcher knife in the park in NJ?

Hidden murder weapon, perhaps?

Hopefully not. Just imagine if the killer see this thread

Oh man...., if I don't make a post here in more than a week.., he found me !!!!

originally posted by: Trueman

originally posted by: butcherguy
Take a look at the rivets that hold the handle in place. Very old knives would have brass or copper rivets that were hand peened and there may be hammer marks on the ends of the rivets to indicate that.

Now that's a great clue. Gotta be a butcher....LOL

Not really.
I just sing terribly.

originally posted by: butcherguy

originally posted by: Trueman

originally posted by: butcherguy
Take a look at the rivets that hold the handle in place. Very old knives would have brass or copper rivets that were hand peened and there may be hammer marks on the ends of the rivets to indicate that.

Now that's a great clue. Gotta be a butcher....LOL

Not really.
I just sing terribly.

As far as you don't chop celery with scissors

originally posted by: Trueman

originally posted by: IAMTAT
Why would anyone bury a butcher knife in the park in NJ?

Hidden murder weapon, perhaps?

Hopefully not. Just imagine if the killer see this thread

Oh man...., if I don't make a post here in more than a week.., he found me !!!!

Augustus Masonicus lives in New Jersey....and he loves his cutlery.
Just sayin'.

originally posted by: butcherguy
Take a look at the rivets that hold the handle in place. Very old knives would have brass or copper rivets that were hand peened and there may be hammer marks on the ends of the rivets to indicate that.

Yep.. that's how a pro would date it..

The more modern the rivits /welding the newer the knife.

a reply to: Trueman

As a fellow detectorist, I'm surprised that you have not taken this to one of the great web sites that dwell on this sort of exact discovery/identification. There you have sometimes ancient detectorist that claim to know about everything related to old gear and weapons.

Being it was a knife, I'll venture to say that it was at one point somebody's weapon. (Maybe that body is buried right where you made the discovery. Good hunting!

originally posted by: seasonal
a reply to: Naturallywired

This is the thread that Trueman wrote about his rig. Perhaps save a little while longer and get the same?


www.abovetopsecret.com...

I read that thread. That is no where in my price range; like I mentioned.

a reply to: Trueman

It could be that rusted even if from the 60's. Depends on the soil conditions and other things. You said it was found in a park, the park may use chemicals in their landscaping that could deteriorate it quicker than normal. Or high acidity from pine needles, etc. Or it could even be a control handle from an old hayrake or plow disc depth handle.
A lot of parks are old pasture or tillage field.

Good find nonetheless.

originally posted by: openyourmind1262
Because the parents that owned the knife had kids a lot like mine.....take it, and leave it where you last used it.a reply to: Naturallywired

Take the cannoli, leave the knife?

lol.

It's probably a kitchen knife, back when one could openly use something that large in public.

I'd guess it is from the twenties or thirties. It could even be older, but I can see The iron from the blade appears to have reddened the soil around it. Someone may have buried garbage there, it then started to rust and the iron bound to the clay in the soil. The style is older than a sixties knife, it looks like it is an old knife. I have one knife like that. The thing is it could have been an old knife when it was put there.

Nice find, it could even be back from the eighteen hundreds but I don't want to get you all fired up. Depending on the acid in the soil the deterioration could go fast or slow. Within three hundred years the metal could look almost like a stone once the iron leaches out and the clay leaches into the metal.

I found some what looks like a leached out metal pipe here but it would have to be five hundred years old. There was supposedly nobody but Indians up here five hundred years or more ago. I don't think they had eight inch cast iron pipe. I just happen to live in an area where there are iron mines. How it got here and wound up in that shape I have no clue. The pipe could have been hauled here, traded to the Indians or something long ago though. Who knows.

originally posted by: openyourmind1262
Read it again...he say's 3 to 4 inches of soil. Found a pair of my channel locks a few years ago...as I slammed them thru the deck of my mower....they had been in the yard at least 6 or 7 years.a reply to: Naturallywired

So your yard has a growth of 3-5" of soil every year or season?

originally posted by: Trueman

originally posted by: butcherguy
Take a look at the rivets that hold the handle in place. Very old knives would have brass or copper rivets that were hand peened and there may be hammer marks on the ends of the rivets to indicate that.

Now that's a great clue. Gotta be a butcher....LOL

Not really, knives today are still made this way.

a reply to: Aliensun

Haha....now I need a bone detector for the body buried ?

originally posted by: Trueman
a reply to: Aliensun

Haha....now I need a bone detector for the body buried ?

Why are some of us thinking there is a dead body nearby? It was the first thing that came to my mind. LOL
I either hang out with Augustus too much, or I watch too many movies. In any case, nice find!

a reply to: Night Star

But, but..., I think you both look good together. Well, anybody close to you look good.